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| The Lexus ES is officially classified as a mid-sized luxury sedan; one of the more common types of vehicle purchased in the world today. There are five different generations of Lexus ES vehicles that have been designed over the years and the history of the Lexus ES starts with the 1990 Lexus ES 250. Lexus ES 250 This first vehicle came onto the scene in the year 1989 and was the mainstay of the Lexus ES image until the year 1991. It was initially shown to the public in January of 1989 at the North American International Auto Show, where it received lukewarm appreciation from most of the attendees. The reason that the ES 250 was debuted at that time was because Lexus was planning to debut their more prominent design, the LS 400, and they did not want to debut that particular vehicle alone. The Lexus ES 250 had a 2.5 liter displacement engine that was previously designed for the Toyota Camry and was also fitted with a 156 HP module that ran on six cylinders arranged in v-formation (also known as a V6 engine). Some automobile historians claim that a large portion of the inspiration for the ES 250 came from a vehicle sold in Japan by Toyota known as the Vista, primarily because the two sedans were very similar in their body design. When it was initially sold in American Markets, the ES 250 was sold with optional automatic transmissions, although initially the manual version of the car was cheaper and therefore more popular. The last production day for the ES 250 was July 5, 1991, just before the introduction of the second-generation ES 300. Lexus ES 300 The ES 300 was officially introduced in September of 1991 and that was also the month in which official manufacturing of the vehicle also began. The difference between the 300 and the 250 was primarily the fact that the engine displacement was bumped up to a full 3.0 liter engine that boasted 185 HP on a V-6 configuration. According to advertisements that appeared on television around the time of production, the ES 300 had the ability to accelerate from 0 to 60 in 8 seconds flat; something that was an improvement on the statistics for the ES 250. One thing that really stood out about the ES 300 in comparison to the ES 250 was the design elements of the car chassis. There were more curving edges used in the design of the 300 as opposed to rigid rectangular vertex-based edges on the 250. The encasing for the headlights also projected further around the corner from the front of the car in the ES 300, something that is debated as being good or bad depending on the person you talk to within the car industry. Manufacturing of the ES 300 continued until mid 1996, when it was stopped to make room for the third generation of ES vehicles. Lexus ES 300 Revisited Because the engine displacement factor had not changed between the second and third generation, the third generation car was still referred to as the Lexus ES 300. The engine of the car however did receive a big overhaul, with the horsepower reaching 200 for the first time as well as a power train option being added to the design of the car. The chassis also received a change in design, with rakish and sleek lines being added to this car, replacing the softer tones of the previous generation. The car was actually thought to be one of the better looking cars of its time and it is quite possible that a lot of the initial interest in the ES 300 when it rolled off the lines in 1997 was due primarily to this issue. Another point regarding the third-generation ES 300 was the premier of reflector headlights in the ES series of Lexus sedans. The first and second generation cars had both used projector headlights in their design and this was changed to reflectors when the third-generation ES 300 rolled off the lines. This car enjoyed production until the middle of 2001, when it was replaced by the fourth generation ES model. Lexus ES 300, Lexus ES 330 By the time 2002 had rolled around, the North American market was squarely moving in the direction of bigger is better. This was due primarily to the emergence of an extreme consumer culture as well as the need for mid-sized sedans to be created with more interior room in order to compete with their more luxurious counterparts. For the first two years within the market, the ES 300 was still the sedan of choice for the Lexus ES series, but in 2004 it got a long-awaited upgrade to the ES 330. The ES 330 possessed a 3.3 liter engine that was able to improve once more on the horsepower of the card with 225 HP. This ended up replacing the ES 300 in North American markets in keeping with the idea of bigger is better, but in Asian markets the ES 300 fourth-generation sedan was still available for purchase and remained so until manufacturing of this generation of cars ceased in 2006. Lexus ES 350 The Lexus ES 350 was introduced at the Chicago Auto Show in February of 2006 and the reception it received was quite a bit warmer than the reception of its first-generation predecessor almost two decades before. The first models of the ES 350 rolled off the lines in 2007 and at the current moment in time there are no plans for this generation of Lexus ES automobiles to be discontinued any time soon. The ES 350 features a 3.5 liter engine that is capable of a whopping 272 HP with a V-6 arrangement of cylinders. The car has the ability to accelerate from 0 to 60 in under 7 seconds and is one of the fastest sedans in its class. The ES has slowly been drifting from the mid-size sedan to the luxury sedan class and the ES 350 is perhaps the first generation in which the actual distinction between the two is blurred to a certain degree. |
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